Kevin Love on the wild week, playing with LeBron and 'new blood'

It’s been a wild week for LeBron James, Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers. And while Love has had a broken hand, he’s seen the incredible upheaval that changed Cleveland’s season and, perhaps, the future of the franchise.

It’s been seven days since six players were traded away (including two members of the Cavs’ 2016 championship team and LeBron’s best friend Dwyane Wade). Cleveland added four new players: Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. from the Los Angeles Lakers, Rodney Hood from the Utah Jazz and George Hill from the Sacramento Kings.

By now, Love is used to trade-deadline drama with the Cavaliers. This is the fourth time during his four years with the Cavs that Cleveland has added new players at the deadline. However, he had to admit, this time was different.

“For me, I’ve been around it all. But not fully immersed in it yet. It’s just been watching it a step removed; it’s been wild. It’s also part of the business, part of the game,” Love said. “But having that much turnover… It’s my 10th year. This is unprecedented to see a team do that at the deadline, especially on the last day.”

Just a week after witnessing the most turnover he’s ever seen in his career, Love is at a Banana Republic at The Grove in Los Angeles with his left hand still in his cast, just before All-Star Weekend gets started.

“In a lot of ways, we got better, we got new blood in there,” Love said. “From a small sample size, it seems like guys are really enjoying playing.”

Love is almost numb to the feeling of change since he’s seen so much during his tenure with the Cavs. Only four players remain from the 2016 championship team, and that’s including Love and LeBron.

“You don’t get completely numb to it, but after a while, you become a part of it,” Love said. “We have two, two and a half months. We’ll try to get right before the playoffs.”

Love is on break, but he’s also working. Love is in the middle of his fourth interview at this event and he’s sweating because he’s wearing a thick fall jacket, which is part of his collection, on a 68 degree day in Los Angeles.

“It’s going to be for fall, which to me, being from Portland, Oregon, that’s the best time of year,” he said.

Love is still making the most of his February breather in Los Angeles, though. And he’s happy his team will get a break.

“They’ll take a little time for themselves. I think it’s good for myself being able to rest,” Love said. “There’s a lot of layers there, [a lot of reasons] that I think this break will be good for us. To be here now in L.A. is a lot of fun for me, it’s almost my old stomping grounds with UCLA.”

Love is still sitting out for at least a few more weeks. But he is getting closer to getting his cast off, running and finally playing.

There has been a lot of talk about what it takes to play with LeBron James and what the superstar demands from his teammates. But if the new, younger Cavs are any indication, it seems like the key is just to play hard. Is it really that simple?

“A lot of times, it sounds elementary and easy. A lot of the time, that is the case,” Love said. “I think if you are talented enough and you play hard, good things will happen for you. And LeBron finds a way to make the game pretty easy for you if you just do that too.”

Luckily for Love, he has had four years to get used to playing with LeBron and before he got hurt, he was having his best season. Even with the injury, this will probably still end up as his best campaign in Cleveland. But now, the focus is on the new guys getting acclimated with The King and Love is already scouting his new offensive weapons.

“[They are] fast guys and guys I can run the pick-and-roll with. [They can] run pin downs, shoot the ball. So I think we got a lot of younger, faster, more athletic and I think that’s going to help us. Some of those guys just go out there and play,” Love said.

“Guys like Larry Nance Jr. go out there and play extremely hard. He’s a guy that just, if he gets extended minutes, could see a double-double every night. Clarkson, he just plays. Rodney Hood, I love his game, a lefty, he can defend with his size. George Hill is like the savvy veteran who went right into the starting lineup like he’s been playing with us for so long and [he’ll] just go and get the job done. He fits right in with our team and hopefully we can make a run at this thing.”

Luckily for Love and the Cavs, they can finally catch their breath during this break – even if it’s relatively short – before they gear up for the playoffs.

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